Okechukwu Nnodim and Olawunmi Ojo

The Federal Government on Tuesday said that it had forced Turkish Airlines to pay compensation to all passengers on its flight TK624 scheduled service from Istanbul to Abuja, whose luggage were delayed by the carrier for some days.
A statement issued by the spokesperson for the Minister of State for Aviation, Mr. James Oduadu, noted that the
compensation was due to the intervention of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority after investigation showed that the rights of the travellers were abused by the airline.
On December 28, 2015, The PUNCH reported that the Federal Government had begun a probe into the security breach that occurred at the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, Abuja, where scores of angry passengers of the Turkish Airlines flight invaded the airport’s tarmac and stopped the aircraft from taking off. As a result of the incident, which occurred from 11pm on December 24 till around 2am of the following day, the government suspended the head of security, the NAIA
Manager as well as the terminal manager pending when investigation would be completed.
Although Odaudu did not state if the investigation into the incident had been completed, he said the NCAA also used the opportunity to advise the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to provide signs informing passengers of possible penalties for unlawful acts at the airports, citing the security breach by the Turkish Airlines’ passengers as an instance. The statement noted that the passengers were paid monetary compensation ranging from N8,000 to N80,000, depending on the level of the infringement on their rights.
The spokesperson quoted the NCAA as saying, “The airline, under the supervision of the Consumer Protection Officers of the regulatory authority, ensured that all the passengers were paid full monetary compensation as contained in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations. “In addition, a cargo flight and an Airbus were arranged to freight to Abuja,
Nigeria, all contentious backlog of baggage that were earlier short-landed.
All concerned passengers have collected same as at the time of this report.” Odaudu said these were contained in a
report of the investigation carried out by the NCAA over the tarmac intrusion by the Turkish Airlines’ passengers.
He noted that the report recommended
that clear-cut penalties arising from unlawful acts should be displayed to serve as deterrent to would be violators.
He said Close Circuit Television footage would be studied and that Turkish Airlines would assist in identifying the
unruly passengers for prosecution in order to dissuade others from carrying out similar actions subsequently.
The statement quoted the NCAA as stating, “In the course of the final phase of the investigation, salient questions will be asked concerning airport management. If established, sanctions will be applied for violating access control requirements in the National Civil Aviation Security
Programme.”

The spokesperson quoted the NCAA as saying, “The
airline, under the supervision of the Consumer
Protection Officers of the regulatory authority, ensured
that all the passengers were paid full monetary
compensation as contained in the Nigerian Civil
Aviation Regulations. “In addition, a cargo flight and an
Airbus were arranged to freight to Abuja, Nigeria, all contentious backlog of baggage that were earlier short-landed.